Wyrm

Wyrms are a breed of serpentine-like draconids that are descended from dragons. They are magical creatures and are very powerful as well as extremely predatory.  Due to their lack of any limbs, wyrms are often mistaken as nothing more than gigantic snakes until it is too late.  Many wyrms are capable of the same feats such as breathing fire, spewing acid, and releasing toxic gases that can kill their prey with ease.  They are the most venomous of all draconic breeds, not one single breed of wyrm does not have any kind poisonous bite of any kind.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Wyrms have an incredibly serpentine-like body structure that is nearly identical to that of a common snake save for a few features. All wyrms have a dragon-like skull structure along with a second pair of lungs that are similar to a fire-dragon and enable them to breathe fire. Like other draconids, wyrms posses hard armor-like scales that cannot be pierced by common steel or iron.  In all breeds, it is noticeable that the females are nearly one-third bigger than the males.  This feature is an adaptation due to the fact that any other male wyrms will destroy the female's nest before mating with her.
Other breeds specialize in spewing out toxic fumes and acidic fluids that can melt through flesh, stone, and metal alike. The most defining difference between wyrms and snakes is the fact is that all wyrms can envenomate and constrict while snakes can only do one or the other.
One single feature that all wyrms share is that every breed is poisonous. Each variation of the breed has a venomous bite of some sort that can kill their prey in a variety of ways. Very specific breeds release venom through their poisonous bite, while others can pass it through the air via toxic aerosol. Another common trait that all wyrms share is their talent for burrowing.

Genetics and Reproduction

Wyrms take on a single mate for a temporary amount of time, beginning from when they build a nest and ending at once the hatchlings have grown large enough to fend for themselves.  A female will attract the attention of a dozen or so males that will compete and fight to the death for a chance to mate.  Most wyrms tend to build their nests out of branches that they pile over to make into a dome-like structure to hide the nest from predators and other threats.  Other breeds tend to build their nests underground like a lindwyrm and keep watch over the nest until they hatch.
The parents keep watch over the nest in turns like other draconids while the other leaves to hunt.  All wyrms are capable of storing food in a pouch located in the throat region which is used to carry pouches of meat that are brought back to the nest for the hatchlings to feed.  This kind of care is given to the hatchlings for almost six-months until they are large enough to hunt and feed themselves.  After the hatchlings are grown, the mated pair splits and they go their separate ways and the cycle begins anew after another sixty-years.

Growth Rate & Stages

Wyrms like many draconids grow incredibly fast, by the time a human even reaches the end of its toddler stage a wyrm will already be an adolescent.  The healthier and the more that a wyrm eats the faster it will grow and reach enormous sizes.  An adult wyrm is distinguishable by the size and shape of its horns.  When wyrms hatch, their horns and spikes are nothing more than little stubs; as they grow their horns and spikes begin to take shape and become larger and sharper.
All wyrms do not attain the use of their dangerous breath until they approach adolescence.  As the wyrm grows its breath becomes more potent, stronger, and more lethal.  Even their skills at burrowing beneath the earth and stone become greater with age.

Ecology and Habitats

All wyrms prefer to live in warmer climates, ranging anywhere from deserts, humid jungles, and temperate forests.  Only one single type of wyrm can actually survive in cold climates while the rest thrive in hotter weather.  Regardless of living in a cold or hot environment, all wyrms are burrowers and are capable of living underground.

Dietary Needs and Habits

All wyrms are strictly carnivores, unlike many draconids that are actually omnivores.

Biological Cycle

All wyrms have a small window of opportunity to lay eggs, many of which only take place starting in spring and going on until summer.  A single female will attract several males at once and all will make attempt to mate with her.  Once a male successfully mates with a female the two will construct a tunnel system by burrowing underground where the nest will be.

Additional Information

Domestication

Though not as common as dragons, drakes, and wyverns; wyrms have been used by certain Azgyr tribes as war mounts. However, they are commonly used for mining operations to mine coal, gold, silver, platinum, and even jewels.  In times of war, wyrms are used for tunneling around or under enemy defenses.  Oft times even used to create a point of ambush to surprise enemy forces.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Like their cousins the dragons, wyrms have also been hunted for thousands of years to a lesser degree compared to dragons. Wyrms are thinly populated around the world due to living underground a majority of the time. The reasons for hunting them have varied from one people to another. Like the dragons, even wyrms have typically been hunted for one of three reasons. The first is to do with religion, they are viewed as the signs of demons and dark evil forces. The second is for the resources they provide, the fact that they provide many alchemical materials from their tears, bones, scales and blood to manufacture things like medicine and cosmetics.  Even their venom itself is harvested and used in various poisons. The third and final reason if for reputation and pride, whether they are revered as magnificent beasts that are powerful, capable of magic, and capable of many abilities slaying them became a mark of honor in some many other cultures just like the dragons.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Unlike typical draconids, many wyrms have terrible eyesight and can only see by heat.  This enables them to admittedly see and track their prey incredibly well compared to most predators but it can be avoided by using mud and other such materials. 
Coupled with their incredible sense of smell, wyrms can actually detect their prey even in the most complex environments.  They can follow their prey through swamps, deserts, and dense forests for miles.  Add in their serpentine skeletal structure they can traverse through the most narrow and small gaps in tight spaces with ease and continue pursuing their prey.

Civilization and Culture

Common Myths and Legends

Drakknir the Cosmic Dragon and his mate Wryknia are said to be the Father and Mother of the dragon race and their close and distant kin alike. It is said that the dragons came from nine eggs that fell from the stars and crash-landed on Eldorahn in the far north on a small continent known as Pretheria. As wyrms are close cousins to the dragons, it is said that they share the same divine relation.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Wyrms keep strictly to their own kind, they rarely make any kind of contact with other draconids.  They even  avoid  draconids such as lindwyrms, drakes, and other subterranean breeds of dragon.

Scientific Name

Ouroboridae rex

Lifespan

700-800 years

Conservation Status

Nearly extinct, wyrms are one of the few draconids that are as critically endangered as dragons themselves.